It's better
by bookgeek4ever
Summary: One shot. Happens at the end of HoH. Nico has to go and Hazel says goodbye to him. I do not own anything. Please review!


"I…. um… packed you a backpack." Nico turned around from the pantry in the dining room. "I packed some clothes from everyone… and... some food. Water". She wanted him to say something.

But he just looked at her. There was a softness to his eyes that he never allowed anyone to see. Nico looked at her the way a brother looks at a sister. He treated her the way a brother treats his sister.

Nico Di Angelo thought she was his sister. Not a replacement. A sister.

It had only hit Hazel recently. At first, she had always believed she was a lame replacement for Bianca, his real sister. After all, he came to the underworld to find Bianca and resurrect her. Instead he found Hazel. What was she supposed to think?

Every time she missed Nico or worried about him in camp Jupiter, she had to keep reminding herself he was not her brother, and he will never see her as Bianca.

But when he was capture by Gaea, she couldn't anymore. She couldn't convince herself that she didn't care about him so much. The chances to save him were so slim, she just couldn't say that to herself. She didn't want to.

Once she had stopped trying convincing herself, her heart started to ache. Because although she had accepted that fact, she knew Nico would never do that. It wasn't his fault. He loved Bianca, she was his real sister and it's impossible to forget that. But it still hurt.

Yet during their quest, he hadn't hurt her at all. He hugged her, and smiled at her, and kissed her. He had taken care of her, and treated her as his sister. It made her heart swell.

Nico walked to her, held her hand while he took the bag from her other. He looked her in the eyes when he said, "Thank you Hazel. Thank you so much."

Before she'd get cold feet, she took out the little statue he left in her room. It was like those action figures she always saw when she was a kid, but Hazel knew it was no ordinary piece. This may not be the one that she knows, but it is her father. He may have looked different in his Greek form, but you can never mistake those eyes. Black like a bottomless hole. Nico had those eyes at times, haunted, dead.

Yet when he looked at her now, she couldn't imagine him like that. Now his eyes looked like dark warm chocolate, filled with so much love.

She handed him the statue.

"It's yours. I know Bianca gave it to you, because you always carry it around with you. It's yours."

How could he have given it to her when it was a reminder of his lost sister? Hazel wouldn't allow it.

Nico kept looking at her, a smile pulling at his face. "I want you to have it. Not the best goodbye present, but I'm a little limited here so give me a break."

Hazel started shaking her head, and Nico cut her. "What I had with Bianca is different from what I have with you."

Ouch. She knew that but it wasn't pleasant to hear it. She bowed her head, but he lifted it with his hand so they were eye to eye.

"It's better." He said softly.

Before Hazel could even ask he answered. "With Bianca, I was always taken care of. I was oblivious to it when I was little, but I understand now. I limited her. She wanted to be free, and couldn't because of me. That's why she joined the hunters. To be free of me."

"I'm not mad. It's not a bad thing. She was a kid too, yet she had to take care of another kid. No one should have to do that. I still love her. I still miss her. She is still my sister."

"But with you Hazel, it's not like that. At all. I take care of you as much as you take care of me."

Tears welled up in her eyes. Nico took her hand and closed it back on the figurine. "Have it. I want you to."

Then he hugged her. She hugged him.

The silence streched for a few minutes, while they just hugged each other. Suddenly he said "By the way, if anything happens with you and Zhang while I'm gone, I'll kill him." Hazel laughed.

"Goodbye Nico. Be careful." She said. "Good luck Hazel." He took the bag pack, slung it over his shoulder and sauntered off .

"But seriously." He turned around to look at her. "I mean it. I'll kill him."

Hazel grabbed a candy bar and threw it at him. Nico caught it with a grin on his face.

"Forget what I said!" she yelled at him. "I hope you get eaten!"

His laugh echoed in the hall.


End file.
